 |
|
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (left) talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on a beach in Bangchuidao Island off the coast of Dalian, Liaoning Province.
|
North Korea’s foreign policy experts and prominent diplomats involved
Key North Korean officials in charge of relations with the US and nuclear negotiations were brought out to accompany North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on a surprise visit to China, the second such visit in 40 days. North Korea’s Korean Central Television reported on May 8 that Kim was joined on his visit to China by Ri Su-yong, a vice chairman of the Korean Workers’ Party (KWP); Kim Yong-chol, another KWP vice chairman; Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho; Kim Yo-jong, deputy director of the KWP’s Central Committee; and Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui. As KWP vice chairman in charge of international affairs, Ri Su-yong is North Korea’s point man for foreign policy, while Ri Yong-ho and Choe Son-hui are key diplomats and known as some of the best US hands at North Korea’s Foreign Ministry. Ri Yong-ho is regarded as Kim Jong-un’s key strategist for foreign affairs. Korean Central Television reported that Ri Su-yong, Kim Yong-chol and Ri Yong-su were present during Kim Jong-un’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on May 7. As North Korea and the US engage in a fierce tug-of-war prior to the North Korea-US summit with hardliners inside the US upping the ante for denuclearization, North Korea appears to have played the card of “coexistence” with China in order to bolster its bargaining power while also specifically discussing the agenda for denuclearization. While Kim Yo-jong did not accompany Kim Jong-un on his first visit to China in March, she was on the list this time. Xi was accompanied during the meeting by Wang Huning, a member of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) Standing Committee and first secretary of the CPC’s Secretariat; Yang Jiechi, director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission; Song Tao, head of the CPC’s International Liaison Department; Ding Xuexiang, director of the CPC’s General Office; and Wang Yi, State Councilor and Foreign Minister. By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
